We don’t have the wilds of Scotland, the wilderness of the moors in Devon or Yorkshire, Northern Ireland’s moody mountains or deserted beaches like Wales. No brooding hills as you see near Malvern or Manchester. We lack the drama of the Lakes, the chocolate box rolls of the Cotswolds and Dorset. We don’t have a …
A fellow Brightonian read my previous post on Brighton and asked me why I like the old place, in a bit a more detail. We had a long conversation that ranged from the general to the specific and the arcane to the absurd. So, why do I like it in Brighton? Here are some incomplete …
On a cold saturday after Christmas, a little excursion is in order. Where better than the Booth Museum of Natural History in Brighton? Thankfully very little has changed since I used to visit frequently as a child. Founded by Edward Thomas Booth in the 19th century, it was very much a personal passion and Booth …
For my money, there are few British institutions as marvellous as the London Undergound. From humble beginnings as a cut-and-cover route between Paddington and Farringdon as the world’s first underground railway, to the major engineering feats of the deep tunnels of the Northern line and the far-reaching suburban branches north, south, east and west, it’s …
Can it be a year already? Well, it isn’t really, but a year ago today I signed the papers and took a flat in my hometown of Brighton and even though I didn’t completely relocate until after Christmas, it’s pretty much one whole year. Wow. No regrets. I can hardly imagine moving back to the …
Overheard. Two men and a woman in a pub: both fancy their chances with her. There has been much flirtation and a bit of bawdiness. Woman: So you’re a plumber. Man 1: He’s a heating engineer, there is a different. Woman: (Chastened) Oh. How’s business? Man 2: Shit. Man 1: He’s going to become a …
Change isn’t always progress. New isn’t necessarily better than old. See Example 1 below: Euston Station. A beautiful neo-classical building was replaced with the brutalist terminus we see today. They saved St. Pancras but the Euston Arch is at the bottom of a canal in East London. Planners and progress did more damage than the …
I love this Vampire Weekend cover of Fleetwood Mac’s classic, ‘Everywhere’. I heard them play it in London last week and it was a bit of a highlight of the gig. I was reminded of it by The Independent. (Yes, not a video as such but def the best audio quality I can find.) Enjoy.
Two men overheard on the London Bridge train as it waited to depart: – How was xx and xy’s wedding? – Not bad. But we had to buy our own booze. – Thought it was no expense spared? – Got fed. And a glass of champagne for the toast. – The way xy was talking, …
Three lads in the pub. Brighton boys. They all work in bookies shops. They talk about gambling, sharing stories of foolish punters. They boast about how much money they make from “idiots.” Soon they’re talking about Betfair, how successful and profitable it is, and how much they admire the founder Andrew Brown (sic). “What a …
St James’s Street. On my way home. About 11pm. A tall transvestite in a ginger wig with a thick belt round a long jumper is strutting along. She looks like Donna Noble. A group of three twittering, bickering discobunny gay lads are walking the other way, towards her. One of them spots her and smirks …
(The bravado and sheer cheek of this ‘marketing’ staggers me… and inspires not a little admiration.)
I spent a pleasant weekend in Northern Ireland. Here’s a view of the Mountains of Mournes from Narrow Water Castle in Warrenpoint.
On Sunday after eBay University in Exeter, I was fortunate to take a long anticipated trip to the Eden Project in Cornwall, near St Austell. It’s the millennium dome that was built to last and, needless to say, it’s a great day out. We got there first thing and it was quiet, in fact it …